China has declared restrictions on the American divisions of Hanwha Ocean Co., one of South Korea’s leading shipbuilders, in response to U.S. actions against the Chinese shipping industry.
The move caused a historic wave of liquidations as escalating trade tensions pressured risk assets.
Today, Bitcoin dropped as much as 4% to around $111,200, while Ether declined 7.8% to below $4,000.
Smaller tokens fell even further, dragging the total market value of all cryptocurrencies down by more than $150 billion over 24 hours.
Following China’s retaliation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated, “This is a sign of how weak their economy is, and they want to pull everybody else down with them. Maybe there is some Leninist business model where hurting your customers is a good idea, but they are the largest supplier to the world. If they want to slow down the global economy, they will be hurt the most.”
Today’s decline came after approximately $19 billion of leveraged crypto positions were liquidated during a sharp selloff that began on October 10, triggered by new export controls.
Today, the U.S. dollar hit its highest point since August as investors seek safe-haven assets.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff